Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku – 07-10

Yeah, they just keep trying and trying…

Well, I promised that I would do an overall review of the show at the end of the Summer season; call this half of that promise fulfilled, as I’d rather do four now, and two/three later. I’ll be brief and break it down episode by episode; Good, Bad, and Ugly style….

For Love of Lava Not…

Episode Seven

My So-Called Tragic Life…

The Good: Some semblance of plot got moving via the Black Dragon scale. A possible love interest between Merly and Swallow, with the first impression of the same between Ulirka and Swallow. The later will come into play during episode ten. Cliffhanger ending promises LOLi.

The Bad: There is quite a bit that is bad for this one episode, as it had to buy into the trail of derp the past two episode left in their sloshy wake. But, instead I’ll go for all new derp. That is Swallows “tragic” backstory. It was pretty much a copy and paste job from start to finish, with very few of the serial numbers filled off. It makes no literal sense, and gives us no depth into the Black Dragon Knight’s character. It pretty much just set’s us up for Swallow cashing in plot coupons to his Black Dragon creditor by dumping the Black Dragon scale into Red Dragon’s power center. There was quite a bit of smoke and noise about the Dragons with little concrete exposition. Pick a power/influence set, guys, your writing isn’t that clever.

The Ugly: The combat with the golem was a battle for who could care less. Eiha once again proves to be….like, there, I guess. Lava neither burns, nor chokes, might as well have fought on the beach….

For Love of LOLi (Not?)

Episode Eight

Meet the new boss….

The Good: Chika Anzai as Inori is as close to an Evil Chaika Trabant as we ever will get. She’s also positioned by the story to be the ultimate shadowy power player, which suits me fine. As Ibuki’s twin (but slightly older) she’s also a Child of Contract to Red Dragon, and the push and pull between Ibuki’s reluctance to power, and her mad embrace of it is kinda refreshing and interesting. But see The Ugly below.

The Bad: So, you know that Red Dragon Expedition you’ve been told to buy into all along. Yeah, well, never-mind, that was all just a ruse to get Kouran bollixed with Returned Ones, and to put D’natia into a more powerful position to take over Nil Kamui. Not a bad idea per se, but the execution was poor, and the reaction’s by Lou, Swallow, Kagraba, et. al. was pretty much, “yeah, that was likely to happen”.

The Ugly: Mashiro’s Return as a Returned One controlled by Inori. Again, not a bad idea, but execution is everything, and they play it so fast and loose, and change the rules on the fly. Nothing settles down into a pattern that the audience can care about. Also, watching Ibuki go back and forth from elation to terror was just cringe-worthy. Plus, he’s about a dumb as a box of hammers most of the time. It makes that contrast to her sister derpy and shallow. Good LOLi character that I’ve grown to respect is a diamond set on a tin ring….

For Love of LOLi Not….

Episode Nine

Welcome back Mashiro…now go away….

The Good: Actually this one had decent pacing, and managed to put some rather attractive adhesive bandages on gaping narrative wounds, and leaking character motivations. We got some sympathy for Lou and a touch more about D’natia politics and such. But….

The Bad: It’s not like these character’s or plot’s had any depth to begin with. I said bandages, and I meant that, as this patient is pretty terminal at this point. It’s gonna bleed out sooner rather than later. Ibuki decides, after seeing the horror of Mashiro’s return decides it’s best for him to step up his game and finally become king, as his sister is not a likable option. Really? She’s a ruthless power player that isn’t the least bit afraid to use what she has at her disposal to basically kick Kouran’s ass and wipe D’natia’s in a few swift strokes. Sounds like she is perfect for this job. Too bad they play her off as the crazy one. All Hail Queen Inori!

The Ugly: Mashiro’s return and departure. Yep, third act cheap melodrama to put the would-be-boy King back on the right path. Just like the first episode….Also the  kiss between Mashiro and Eiha was just a bit to far…and for me, that is saying quite a bit.

For Love of Lou Not…

Episode Ten

If you gotta die, make sure the music is pretty…

The Good: Chopin’s “Waltz No. 14 in E Minor” was used very well in the main combat scene between Ulrika and Lou; it’s tone did a great job underscoring both the fight, and Ulrika’s feelings and ultimate demise. I like how the writing was actually able to pull of a decent Chekov’s Gun in the Guardian Sprits, giving us a great moment when both show and tell worked well with each other. I liked how we got a contrast between both Ulrika and Lou’s approach to Swallow as a potential lover, with their methods telegraphing the fight rather well. Yeah, lots of good stuff this episode, but…

The Bad: The narrative is still writing checks it can’t cash. Lou’s backstory as presented here is so single note that it barely even registers as anything of importance, but it least it’s a bit more original that Swallow’s. Not that that can say much. Lou’s moves on him were basically the worst excesses of both Nasu and Bocchi given form, and were pretty embarrassing in the execution.

The Ugly: It wasn’t that Ulika death was bad or ugly, it’s just that we had very little in the way of any of her motivations. So the Ugly here, is that with a bit more TLC for characterization in this show, her sacrifice for Swallow’s sense of duty would have had more impact. But then characterization always suffers, as Swallow’s turn to “doing the right thing” for Ibuki is just facepalmy.

For Love of LOLi Not….Part II

Why is she even around…?

Eiha’s story is just tragic as it gets. No, not her back story per se, as she’s a Cursed Being, and that comes front loaded with terrible crap. It’s tragic cause they’ve done squat with her. She has little if any agency, has done nothing that denotes any purpose, and the story keeps playing her as both the most important thing in Ibuki’s life, and a life he cannot sacrifice. It’s an interesting dichotomy to play with, and yet….she’s a cipher of a character. I want to like her, and it’s not hard, but finding a good reason to, beyond her being the semi-broken pet of the party, is difficult. This is the part that I’ll call the Biggest Ugly of the show so far….

Welp, I wanted to keep it short and sweet, and darn it, if I didn’t do just that. Not bad for four episodes. I know that I missed quite a few story elements, but that was on purpose. If you want to bring those up in comments, then I think that’s a fine place for them. Thanks for catching up with the show!

About skylion

All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion